Anwar Ibrahim was not invited by the Agong to form a new government; unlike Mahathir he was not even invited to the palace for morning tea: Anwar & DAP should tell their supporters why he has not been invited, instead of rallying the troops for riots

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Malaysia's politician Anwar Ibrahim speaks during an interview with Reuters in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on Feb 6, 2020.Anwar seems to be rallying the troops for 1998 Reformasi style riots.

On Thursday 27 Feb 2020 Malaysia's Constitutional Head Of State, The Yang DiPertuan Agong, invited interim (or caretaker ?) Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to the palace for morning tea.

Since then Mahathir has called for a special sitting of Parliament at which a vote of no confidence will be conducted. If no one person can command the confidence of the majority a snap election will be called.

Meanwhile  Anwar Ibrahim has not been  invited to the palace for even a cup of tea. Nevertheless his supporters and he have attempted to give the impression that he has the Agong's support and indeed that of all the Malay Rulers.

Anwar ought instead to explain why the Agong has not, after interviewing all MPs(as he should) invited Anwar to form government.

END

Bar Council (effectively) admonishing Agong for doing the right thing-An extension of the Australian Government's Anwar Ibrahim obsession?

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The photo below is from the Law Council Of Australia website. The photo goes with a story about LCA president Arthur Moses SC's speech in Kuala Lumpur , which the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Andrew Goledzinowski described as "oustanding". Moses speech praised the Bar Council, its immediate past president George Varghese,and attacked Mahathir.

The photo from the LCA website of that event is interesting for absent from it are Varghese, his  Chris deputy and current president Abdul Ghafoor, or any other Bar Council officer.

Instead ,we have Christopher Leong, who was president in 2015,.While Leong obtained his LLB from Nottingham University he was a student at Monash University , from approximately 1981 to 1983,from where he obtained a BA.

Caption: Chris Leong, Past President, Bar Council of Malaysia, Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Richard Malanjum, Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Malaysia, Arthur Moses SC, President, Law Council of Australia, Elizabeth Espinosa, President, Law Society of New South Wales, Datuk Seri Panglima David Wong Dak Wah, Chief Judge of The High Court of Sabah and Sarawak, and Andrew Goledzinowski AM, Australian High Commissioner in Malaysia.

Given the above, the brave  statement by the Bar Council admonishing the Agong for doing the right thing in the current political impasse does look like yet another attempt by the Australian Government to ensure that Anwar Ibrahim becomes Prime Minister of Malaysia.

END 

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Bar Council disagrees with Agong gauging political allegiance of MPs, despite clear legal basis for Agong's actions

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Bar Council President Fareed Gafoor has been very busy this year.First this:

Andrew Goledzinowski

@AusHCMalaysia

As we approach the beginning of the new Legal Year in M’sia, I took the opportunity to catch up with

@malaysianbar

President Dato’ Abdul Fareed. • Cooperation on legal reform and professional issues has long been a strength of the

relationship.

6:46 PM · Jan 6, 2020 from Kuala Lumpur City, Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory·Twitter for iPhone

And now,  as reported by THE STAR, but note that the Agong is interviewing his MPs personally, not relying on Statutory Declarations.



Malaysian Bar: Parliament should decide who commands majority support

NATION


Tuesday, 25 Feb 20204:32 PM MYT








PETALING JAYA: Parliament should determine who commands the confidence of the majority and is to be appointed as Prime Minister, says the Malaysian Bar.

In echoing the advice of Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas who said that the way forward is to have this matter determined by the Dewan Rakyat when it reconvenes on March 10, the Malaysia Bar said a vote of confidence or otherwise could be taken and debated against the interim Prime Minister.


Bar president Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor cautioned against the reliance on Statutory Declarations (SDs) to determine the support of MPs, saying that the authenticity of such SDs can be disputed.

“Any attempt to form a new government through political horse-trading must be avoided especially if it negates the aspirations of the electorate, as this would lead to unnecessary controversy and raise questions of legitimacy.


“Political stability is essential in these challenging economic times and we call on all parties to behave in a calm and mature manner, having due regard to our Constitutional framework.

"The interest of the nation and its people should prevail over all other personal or partisan interests, ” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 25).

On Monday (Feb 24), Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned as Prime Minister, with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong accepting his resignation.

However, the King has consented for Dr Mahathir to continue running the country as interim Prime Minister until a new premier has been appointed and a new Cabinet formed.

Dr Mahathir is the only one from the Pakatan Harapan administration who is left after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong cancelled the appointments of all Cabinet members.

Aside from ministers, the duties of other members, including the deputy prime minister, deputy ministers and political secretaries ceased, effective Feb 24.






SEE ALSO

Malaysia Boleh! Constitutional Implications of the Malaysian Tsunami

Bar Council disagrees with Agong gauging political allegiance of MPs, despite clear legal basis for Agong's actions

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Bar Council President Fareed Gafoor has been very busy this year.First this:

Andrew Goledzinowski

@AusHCMalaysia

As we approach the beginning of the new Legal Year in M’sia, I took the opportunity to catch up with

@malaysianbar

President Dato’ Abdul Fareed. • Cooperation on legal reform and professional issues has long been a strength of the

relationship.

6:46 PM · Jan 6, 2020 from Kuala Lumpur City, Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory·Twitter for iPhone

And now,  as reported by THE STAR, but note that the Agong is interviewing his MPs personally, not relying on Statutory Declarations.



Malaysian Bar: Parliament should decide who commands majority support

NATION


Tuesday, 25 Feb 20204:32 PM MYT








PETALING JAYA: Parliament should determine who commands the confidence of the majority and is to be appointed as Prime Minister, says the Malaysian Bar.

In echoing the advice of Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas who said that the way forward is to have this matter determined by the Dewan Rakyat when it reconvenes on March 10, the Malaysia Bar said a vote of confidence or otherwise could be taken and debated against the interim Prime Minister.


Bar president Abdul Fareed Abdul Gafoor cautioned against the reliance on Statutory Declarations (SDs) to determine the support of MPs, saying that the authenticity of such SDs can be disputed.

“Any attempt to form a new government through political horse-trading must be avoided especially if it negates the aspirations of the electorate, as this would lead to unnecessary controversy and raise questions of legitimacy.


“Political stability is essential in these challenging economic times and we call on all parties to behave in a calm and mature manner, having due regard to our Constitutional framework.

"The interest of the nation and its people should prevail over all other personal or partisan interests, ” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 25).

On Monday (Feb 24), Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned as Prime Minister, with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong accepting his resignation.

However, the King has consented for Dr Mahathir to continue running the country as interim Prime Minister until a new premier has been appointed and a new Cabinet formed.

Dr Mahathir is the only one from the Pakatan Harapan administration who is left after the Yang di-Pertuan Agong cancelled the appointments of all Cabinet members.

Aside from ministers, the duties of other members, including the deputy prime minister, deputy ministers and political secretaries ceased, effective Feb 24.






SEE ALSO

Malaysia Boleh! Constitutional Implications of the Malaysian Tsunami

Zhu Minshen& iFlytek a case for Minister Tehan's "blunt instruments": TEQSA & its Chief Commissioner Nick Saunders failed to enforce disclosure rules against Zhu Minshen's Top Group: iFlytek collaboration, funding, HKEX capital raising must be disclosed,Minister Tehan needs to exercise "blunt instruments"

by Ganesh Sahathevan

As previously reported on this blog:

Zhu Minshen & Top Group's business partner iFlytek blacklisted by the US Gov for human rights violations

In November last year Minister for Education Dan Tehan issued guidelines to deal with the issue of foreign interference in local tertiary institutions.The guidelines included this requirement:
Universities have a Conflict of Interest (CoI) policy/disclosure of interests policies, which identifies foreign affiliations, relationships and financial commitments and sets staff responsibilities to their Australian university.

In issuing the Guidelines Tehan said that universities will be forced to take action over China ties.

The AFR  reported :

The education minister (Dan Tehan)  told universities he has ways of compelling them to take action on foreign interference, reinforcing comments he made earlier this week that he had "blunt instruments" to use if they didn't .
These include acting against a university through the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, which is the industry regulator, or writing new rules into individual 
contracts each university has with government for funding.

However, as has been reported, TEQSA has refused to regulate entities under its purview; instead it appears hopelessly conflicted (see story below).

END 

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

TEQSA's Nicholas Saunders granted Zhu Minshen's Top Group self accreditation rights despite Zhu granting academic credits for defying an AFP directive

by Ganesh Sahathevan





Professor Nick Saunders AO (Chief Commissioner)
Australia's education sector putting money ahead of standards :

The trend continues, aided and abetted by TEQSA

The following is an excerpt from Zhu Minshen's Top Education Group Ltd's ANNOUNCEMENT OF ANNUAL RESULTSFOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2018

Receive Self-Accreditation Authority 



The Company received a letter from TEQSA on 16 May 2018 in relation to its approval for partial self accreditation authority (‘‘SAA’’) in the broad field of education of Management and Commerce, as classified by the Australian Standard Classification of Education, which covers the Australian Qualification Framework from level 5 (diploma) to level 9 (master’s degree) Management and Commerce courses offered at TOP. By obtaining the SAA, TOP is able to determine by itself whether its Management and Commerce courses adequately comply with regulatory standards rather than applying through TEQSA. While maintaining high quality of the courses, the time required for course accreditation will hence be significantly reduced. Accordingly, the partial SAA status not only allows TOP to more efficiently respond to market demand in coursework, but also constitutes a necessary step towards eventually achieving university specialization status.


Following the approval of partial SAA status, TOP enjoys the SAA status with 11 other non-university higher education providers, and has become one of the three non-university higher education providers with the SAA status that offer Management and Commerce higher education courses, and is the only non-university for-profit higher education provider offering courses in Management and Commerce.


TEQSA, headed by its Chief Commissioner Nicholas Saunders granted SAA privileges  despite Zhu and Top's history of highly irregular assessment. As reported on this blog recently:



In his 2018 book "Silent Invasion" Professor Clive Hamilton reports that Top Education Group's Zhu Minshen organised students , including students from his Top Education Institute to protest against Tibetans at the 2008 rally , which counted towards the Top students’ assessment. Zhu’s Top Institution is “perhaps the only accredited degree program in Australia that counts agitating for a foreign power towards its qualifications.”END 


SEE ALSO

Nick Saunder's TEQSA has granted Minshen Zhu's Top Group permission to open a branch campus in Hobart, and increase Sydney student numbers despite sharp fall in market cap;TEQSA approval can aid Top's cashflow

Posted by Ganesh Sahathevan at 7:01 PM